help! (i've fallen and i can't get up)
by bleuboxes
Summary: In which Lily Evans buys a pair of fancy shoes, and everything changes [modern au]


It all starts on June twenty seventh when Lily Evans decides to blow one-hundred Euros on a pair of the prettiest platform shoes she's even seen. Brown swede embroidered with tiny colorful flowers and a nice little denim toe-strap, the shoes tickle Lily's fancy, and she knows that she'll be kicking herself if she doesn't purchase them.

It helps that she's out with her friend Marlene, and that Marlene is practically down her throat about buying them (also, they're on sale).

And So, Lily Evans now is in possession of The Shoes, and everything changes.

* * *

A week later, she gets a call from Sirius Black, a mate of hers from uni; Lily isn't sure how it is the two of them became friends because Sirius Black is disinherited son of one of the wealthiest families in the UK. He cares more for his hair than the general welfare of most people, and he genuinely enjoys Nickelback. He's got a list a mile wrong of how very, very different they are, but nevertheless, they're somehow thick as thieves.

Lily also thinks that his boyfriend is super nice, so that's a bonus.

Anyway, the reason he's phoned her is because he's having a little get-together with his mates and wants to know if she'll be gracing him with her presence on the fifth of July.

Seeing as her current schedule involves her sleeping, eating, working and occasionally netflixing with Marlene and Mary on the weekends, she says she'll be there in earnest.

Sirius cheers in delight and tells her to not look like a bat out of hell for once in her life.

That's when she makes her first mistake and tells him about The Shoes and how beautiful and amazing and how they make her calves look hot as hellfire (as Marlene told her). If Sirius could burst he would have, because there is nothing that man appreciates more than a good shoe.

So, she has no choice but to wear the shoes to Sirius's shindig, which may not seem like a big issue but it's just one of the falling dominoes.

She bids her love to Sirius and hangs up.

"Marlene," Lily calls from across her flat, "I just realized I haven't anything particularly nice to wear with those shoes."

"Yeah, So?" her flat mate calls back.

"So I've got a social calling from Mr. Sirius Black and I mentioned The Shoes and now I need to wear them."

"I don't see how this is my problem?"

"You've got a good eye?"

"Yeah, Lily, I do. I'm literally studying fashion." Marlene pauses, "Goddammit; let me grab my coat."

Lily and Marlene frequent to smaller thrift shops and search through the dress racks, eventually finding a nice green flower print, button-down sundress with a nice V-necked collar and nice little ribbon to tie around the waist.

Not only does Lily love it, but Marlene approves (and it's seven euros, so she can't say no).

* * *

July fifth creeps up on Lily.

Marlene helps her get ready (mostly because Lily has the most brilliant long red hair and absolutely no idea how to style it).

She draws on a quick cat-eye and she's out the door and hops on the bus to Sirius's.

The fun fact about Sirius's flat is that he's on the top floor of a building without a lift. So, once she gets off her bus, the journey really begins.

The stairs in regular human shoes are usually brutal but, these shoe's make the something out of Dante's ninth circle of hell. It probably doesn't help that Lily wears high heels only on special occasions (like Christmas, Easter, and the occasional wedding; she is really wondering why she even bought The Shoes in the first place.

She does make it to the top – it takes her a considerable amount of time (also known as longer than she'd care to admit). By the time she makes it to Sirius's door, she's ready to collapse and have a nice glass of white wine.

She knocks, and Remus greets her with a warm smile and a hug. Then he calls for Sirius and everything goes to shit.

"Evans!" He yells, "Let me see those shoes!"

"You can see them one my ass gets acquainted with your sofa, Black!"

He meets her in the kitchen where Remus is fixing her a glass of wine. He brings her into the tightest hug she's ever received and laughs because her head's actually above his chin for once. He seems to notice that her height is not right, and looks down at her feet and lets out a noise that Lily can't even describe. He rambles for about ten minutes about how pretty and how Evans they are before breathing.

"And you walked up ten flights in those beauties? For me? Evans, I'm honored."

"Yeah yeah, well, the company is shitty but the wine is worth it, I guess."

"Fuck you."

She sticks out her tongue.

"Very mature."

She takes another sip of wine and makes her way to the living room where she plops herself down on the sofa. Remus takes the love seat while Sirius puts on some music. He's smart enough to know that Remus would leave him if he even suggested listening to Nickelback, so he settles with one of his many vintage Benny Goodman records – mostly because he's a pretentious bastard.

Lily can't complain though; Benny Goodman's music is such a joy to listen to.

"Is your elusive roomie gonna make an appearance tonight?"

"James will be here," says Remus taking a sip of his drink as Sirius sits down next to him, "Peter's picking him up from the airport; he's just getting back from visiting his Mother in France."

"Sounds swanky."

"Please don't ever use that word again, Evans" Sirius utters.

"What was that, dear?" Lily mocks, "You know, you're quite swanky yourself. Swanky flat, swanky sofa, swanky boyfriend – "

Remus starts laughing and kisses Sirius's cheek. Sirius has a scowl that could match the likes of her sister, Petunia's; this makes Lily start to laugh, and soon the three of them are peeling over in fits of laughter.

* * *

Attention to The Shoes is replaced with Sirius goading her about the lack of a significant other.

"I'm busy with work and uni – you know, studying so I can maybe get into a good law school; I don't have time for –"

At this moment, two young men come bursting through the door and into the living room.

The blonde one, Peter Pettigrew (she's met him twice before; he's a nice sort of fellow) is shouting something about how Prong's is back and has got his arm slugged around the other man's shoulder.

Lily takes a notice of this one, who she assumes must be James. He's tall – very, very, very tall, with unruly dark hair. He's got a nice pair of specs that frame the most beautiful pair of hazel eyes she's ever seen. He's a bit tan with the lightest dusting of freckles across his nose. His white button down is a bit tight.

He might be the fittest bloke she's ever seen.

When he meets her own eyes, she realizes that she's been staring and looks down at her lap. Then decides, what the hell, and down the rest of the wine in her glass. This does not go unnoticed by her present company.

Sirius throws her a wink, and she throws a pillow and the bird his way.

Only then does Remus see it fit to introduce her to James and Peter. She throws a smile and a hello their way before James excuses himself to put his luggage in his room.

Lily takes this opportunity to get some more wine (because God knows she's going to be needing it).

She takes her time in the kitchen hoping that this will help her recollect herself so she can talk to James without tripping over her own words.

She fills her wine, and thinks of how to start a (maybe flirtatious) conversation with the fittest bloke in the room. Except once she makes it to the living room, her shoe wobbles, she trips over the carpet, spills her wine all over said carpet and lands on top of someone knocking them to the ground as well.

In general, this is bad. It's worse because she just tripped and fell on top of James and she actually wishes she could melt right into the floor.

"I'm so sorry –" she begins, "I'm not usually a klutz but I accidentally mentioned these shoes to Sirius and I don't usually wear heels and I was distracted and wasn't watching where I was going –"

The man has the nerve to start laughing – and, by god, it's a nice laugh (she thinks).

"It's alright! Nothing's broken!"

"But there is wine on my rug!" Sirius complains. Remus hits him.

"Shut up, Sirius; can't you see the lady is clearly distraught." They all look at Lily, who for some reason is actually at the verge of crying.

James can clearly see the tears that are threatening to spill and helps her get up. He takes her hand in his and announces that he's going to show her Sirius's fish.

He leads her down the hallway, where they pass the fish tank, and walk past Sirius's room and into the next room down. She's never been in here – its homey. Pictures of friends and what she can assume are family littler the walls and the dressers. A poster of some football team hangs on the wall. Lily can still here Sirius's music and the chatter amongst friends.

"You can sit down, if you want." He says, raking a hand through his hair.

"Thank you."

"I'm James, by the way. James Potter."

"I know."

"Oh." He says, a faint tint of red grows on his cheeks, "I suppose you do."

"Sirius did attempt an intro earlier. You know, before I toppled you over."

"Well, I think we deserve a do over."

"Lily Evans."

"Nice to meet you, Lily Evans." He smiles (and she swears her heart melts).

* * *

They talk for a bit – James Potter is a pro-footballer. His parents were the owners of some hair care company. Lily Evans has no interest in football or hair care products, but she is interested in the antics that James tells her about.

He's funny, and charming, and an extraordinary listener, and while she's only known him for the better half of three hours, she feels like her life has been monumentally changed.

She tells him about Marlene and how she and Sirius met. It's all laughs and eventually they join their friends in the living room again. Peter is dancing by himself to "Stealin' Apples" and Sirius and Remus are trying to swing together. It's mostly Remus leading a pretty drunk Sirius around the room.

Before it's suggested, Lily takes James's hand and drags him to the middle of the room. She used to swing with her grandmother on Sunday nights when she was little, so she's got a pretty good idea of what's going on. James, on the other hand, looks a bit hesitant.

"C'mon!" she laughs, "It'll be fun!"

"Not fun when I'm stepping on a pretty girl's toes."

"Or when I trip over you."

"You should take those shoes off."

"I should."

And the conversation stops because James puts on hand in hers and the other on her waist and before she knows it, they're dancing around the room like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Lily's never had this much fun in her life.

They do get tired after a while, Lily grabs another glass of wine. She's escorted to the sofa and sits down right next to James.

It's nice. There's chatting, reminiscing, and laughing all around and James's hand is on her knee as he peels over at something that Remus has said.

That's when Lily decides it's time to go.

She says so, and says her goodbyes, but James insists that he walks her down the stairs. Peter shrugs and goes back to talking about something his girlfriend said. Remus is listening intently to his story, but Sirius gets up and gives her a big hug.

"If you don't get his number tonight I'm disowning you, Evans."

"I'm trying." She growls, then kisses his cheek.

He means well.

Hopefully it ends well.

* * *

By the fifth flight, Lily wants to kiss him. He's held he hand the whole time and has been so nice and kind and funny.

Maybe it's the wine. Maybe it's because he's so fit. Maybe it's because she's noticed the way his hand fits rather perfectly in hers.

My the third, she's antsy. What if she's reading this all wrong? What if it _is the wine_?

On the last flight, he's a step ahead of her the whole time, she takes to planning. And when he is off the last step, she takes action.

She spins him around so he's facing her. His eyes are wide and alarmed and beautiful (and glancing at her lips), so she kisses him.

Lily's always been brash – it's what her sister hates about her – but this is new. She doesn't kiss boys she's just met. She doesn't fall for boys she's just met.

But, she supposes there is a first for everything, and her first kiss with James potter is everything if not lovely.

It's messy; it's too much teeth and too much hands and too much love and familiarity for something so _new._

And Lily loves it. She's all smiles when they part (he is too). His hair is tussled adorably (she did that!) and his lips swollen.

"Hi, Lily."

"Hi, James."

They stand silent for a second, just smiling at each other.

"We should go out sometime."

"Yes."

"I'm free tomorrow." Lily bites her lip.

"I - me too." He runs his hand through his hair.

"I'm gonna need your number to confirm a time and place." She says with confidence.

"Here –" He pulls out his phone. She enters her number and watches him send her a text. She hears the text tone in her purse and she smiles even more.

"See you tomorrow, James." She hums, stepping down.

She walks away, but he grabs her hand gently. She walks back to him, and he kisses her once.

"Bye."

Lily catches a taxi and smiles the whole ride home. Marlene's asleep on the couch, and she quietly makes her way to her room.

She lies down on her bed and remembers the unread text from James Potter.

* * *

 _unknown:_ help! Ive fallen and I cant get up!

 _lily:_ blame the shoes

 _james:_ no seriously

 _james:_ i think i've gone and seriously hurt myself my heart feels funny

 _lily:_ ur drunk

 _james:_ drunk on loooovveee

 _lily:_ ur a nerd.

 _james_ : ur nerd

 _lily_ : not yet but tht will probably change

 _james_ : good. i look forward to it

* * *

"How'd Sirius like The Shoes?" Marlene asks her over a bowl of cold cereal the next morning.

"Well enough." Lily shrugs, "But I think they really were a smash hit with his friend James." She grins coyly.

"Please tell me you did not trip and knock him over."

"Yeah well, I may have a date with the bloke that i one-hundred percent did not knock over."

Marlene falls off her stool.

* * *

 _sirius:_ ;-)

 _lily:_ ;-) ;-) ;-)

 _sirius_ : :-0

 _sirius_ : so scandalous!

 _lily:_ ;-)

* * *

 **reviews/favorites are the Bee's knees**


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